This book gathers and updates the most significant advances of the last two centuries and presents an unprecedented micro paleontological study covering more than 20 stratigraphic sections. This information is supplemented by numerous sedimentological observations and analyses, on the basis of which a new lithostratigraphic framework for the Neogene of the Chacoparanense Basin is proposed. The book is structured in an easy-to-read format: Its main section offers a comprehensive review of the current state of knowledge on transgressions in Argentina and similar transgressions in other South American countries, taking into account various key aspects (age, paleoenvironment, micropaleontology, etc.). Secondly, the book presents the main results on the TLP and TEP of the Chacoparanense Basin and the TEP of the Peninsula de Valdes. Lastly, it provides readers with complete stratigraphic profiles (Appendix A), mineralogical analyses (Appendix B), distribution charts (Appendix C), systematics (Appendix D) and plates (Appendix E).

There is, broad agreement in the scientific world today that all humans share common origins in Africa, but when Charles Darwin first suggested it in 1871, few European scientists took his theory seriously. When the Taung child skull was found in South Africa in 1924, Raymond Dart supported Darwin’s theory, but it did little to shift scientific opinion. In the 1980s, when genetics research concluded that all living humans can trace their maternal ancestry back to Africa 200 000 years ago, many international scientists were slow to accept this claim. Scientists, and their research, are often shaped by the prevailing social and political context at the time. Kuljian explores this trend in South Africa and provides fresh insight on the search for human origins – in the fields of palaeoanthropology and genetics – over the past century. The book follows the colonial practice in Europe, the US and South Africa of collecting human skeletons and cataloguing them into racial types, in the hope that they would provide clues to human evolution. Kuljian sheds light on how, during apartheid, the concept of racial classification mirrored the way in which many scientists thought about race and human evolution. In more recent years, the field has been shaped by a more open and diverse approach, and more women and African scientists are entering the field. Research continues and new information is gathered all the time. Darwin’s Hunch also examines current developments in the search for human origins, and uncovers stories that shed new light on the past.

Paleontology is one of the most visible yet most misunderstood fields of science. Children dream of becoming paleontologists when they grow up. Museum visitors flock to exhibits on dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals. The media reports on fossil discoveries and new clues to mass extinctions. Nonetheless, misconceptions abound: paleontologists are assumed only to be interested in dinosaurs, and they are all too often imagined as bearded white men in battered cowboy hats. Roy Plotnick provides a behind-the-scenes look at paleontology as it exists today in all its complexity. He explores the field's aims, methods, and possibilities, with an emphasis on the compelling personal stories of the scientists who have made it a career. Paleontologists study the entire history of life on Earth; they do not only use hammers and chisels to unearth fossils but are just as likely to work with cutting-edge computing technology. Plotnick presents the big questions about life's history that drive paleontological research and shows why knowledge of Earth's past is essential to understanding present-day environmental crises. He introduces readers to the diverse group of people of all genders, races, and international backgrounds who make up the twenty-first-century paleontology community, foregrounding their perspectives and firsthand narratives. He also frankly discusses the many challenges that face the profession, with key takeaways for aspiring scientists. Candid and comprehensive, Explorers of Deep Time is essential reading for anyone curious about the everyday work of real-life paleontologists.

For the physician and natural historian John Woodward (c.1655-1728), fossils were the key to unlocking the mystery of the Earth's past, which he attempted to do in this controversial work, first published in 1695 and here reissued in the 1723 third edition. Woodward argues that the 'whole Terrestrial Globe was taken all to Pieces, and dissolved at the Deluge', and that fossilised remains were proof of the flood as described in the Bible. In the first part of the work, Woodward examines other theories of the Earth's history before presenting evidence - much of it based on his own fossil collection - in support of his theory. The work immediately prompted heated debate among his scientific contemporaries. Despite the controversy, Woodward was acknowledged as an expert on fossil classification, cementing this reputation with his influential Fossils of All Kinds (1728), which is also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection.

Originally published in 1921, this book presents a detailed account 'of the two Devonian land floras'. Illustrative figures and textual notes are incorporated throughout. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in the Devonian period, botany and the history of science.

This book provides a summary of the discoveries made during the course of excavations at the Paleolithic cave site of Fontechevade, France, between 1994 and 1998. The excavation team used modern field and analytic methods to address major problems raised by earlier excavations at the site from 1937 to 1954. These earlier excavations produced two sets of data that have been problematic in light of data from other European Paleolithic sites: first, the Lower Paleolithic stone tool industry, the Tayacian, that differs in fundamental ways from other contemporary industries and, second, the human skull fragment that has been interpreted as modern in nature but that apparently dates from the last interglacial, long before there is any evidence for humans from any other site in Europe. By applying modern stratigraphic, lithic, faunal, geological, geophysical, and radiometric analyses, the interdisciplinary team demonstrates that the Tayacian industry is a product of site formation processes and that the actual age of the Fontechevade I fossil is compatible with other evidence for the arrival of modern humans in Europe."

Barthelemy Faujas de Saint-Fond (1741 1819) abandoned the legal profession to pursue studies in natural history. Appointed a royal commissioner of mines in 1785, he also served as professor of geology at the natural history museum in Paris from 1793 until his death. His keen interest in rocks, minerals and fossils led to a number of important discoveries, among which was confirmation that basalt was a volcanic product. The present work appeared in three parts between 1803 and 1809. The second volume was divided into two. This second part lists the principal active volcanoes around the world and classifies volcanic products. Of related interest in the history of geology, Mineralogie des volcans (1784) and the revised English edition of A Journey through England and Scotland to the Hebrides in 1784 (1907) are two other works by Faujas which are also reissued in this series."

The transition from the Eocene to the Oligocene epochs was the most significant event in earth history since the extinction of dinosaurs. As the first Antarctic ice sheets appeared, major extinctions and faunal turnovers took place on the land and in the sea, eliminating forms adapted to a tropical world and replacing them with the ancestors of most of our modern animal and plant life. Through a detailed study of climatic conditions and of organisms buried in Eocene-Oligocene sediments, this volume shows that the separation of Antarctica from Australia was a critical factor in changing oceanic circulation and ultimately world climate. In this book forty-eight leading scientists examine the full range of Eocene and Oligocene phenomena. Their articles cover nearly every major group of organisms in the ocean and on land and include evidence from paleontology, stable isotopes, sedimentology, seismology, and computer climatic modeling. The volume concludes with an update of the geochronologic framework of the late Paleogene.

Originally published in 1992.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

This book represents a detailed introduction to the geology, structure, and stratigraphy of Kutch Basin, known for its rich fossilized megafauna and the wide range of condensed sections exposing Bathonian to Pleistocene. With its vast assortment of geological features, geomorphology, and geoheritage, the Kutch Basin shows geology, stratigraphy, and paleontology almost as a textbook. Besides the beautiful illustrations given in the book, in the form of good field photographs depicting the landscape, and geological and geomorphological features, this guidebook serves as an inspiring reading reference. Furthermore, this guidebook will be a handy reference book for the tourists visiting Kutch Basin in planning their visit to explore the beautiful Kutch region. The guidebook is intended to interest scientists, researchers, students from schools and universities, tourists, and geoscience professionals of the mining and oil industry working in Kutch.

To the naturalist John Woodward (c.1665 1728), fossils were 'much neglected, and left wholly to the Care and Treatment of Miners and meer Mechanicks'. He had built up a large personal collection of these samples of the Earth's petrified remains and spent much of his life developing a system for their classification, the results of which were published in this important illustrated work of 1728. A distinguished physician and a fellow of the Royal Society, Woodward wrote extensively on scientific topics, and had developed a theory that fossils were creatures destroyed in the flood described in the Bible. These ideas attracted critics and supporters in equal measure, but his contribution to techniques of fossil collection and classification were influential. In the present work, he devotes the early chapters to questions of description and classification, while the later sections contain some of his letters to his scientific contemporaries, including Isaac Newton."

For 150 million years, the skies didn't belong to birds--they belonged to the pterosaurs. These flying reptiles, which include the pterodactyls, shared the world with the nonavian dinosaurs until their extinction 65 million years ago. Some pterosaurs, such as the giant azhdarchids, were the largest flying animals of all time, with wingspans exceeding thirty feet and standing heights comparable to modern giraffes. This richly illustrated book takes an unprecedented look at these astonishing creatures, presenting the latest findings on their anatomy, ecology, and extinction.

"Pterosaurs" features some 200 stunning illustrations, including original paintings by Mark Witton and photos of rarely seen fossils. After decades of mystery, paleontologists have finally begun to understand how pterosaurs are related to other reptiles, how they functioned as living animals, and, despite dwarfing all other flying animals, how they managed to become airborne. Here you can explore the fossil evidence of pterosaur behavior and ecology, learn about the skeletal and soft-tissue anatomy of pterosaurs, and consider the newest theories about their cryptic origins. This one-of-a-kind book covers the discovery history, paleobiogeography, anatomy, and behaviors of more than 130 species of pterosaur, and also discusses their demise at the end of the Mesozoic.The most comprehensive book on pterosaurs ever published Features some 200 illustrations, including original paintings by the author Covers every known species and major group of pterosaurs Describes pterosaur anatomy, ecology, behaviors, diversity, and more Encourages further study with 500 references to primary pterosaur literature

Employed early on in his career by Sir Joseph Banks, the botanist John Lindley (1799 1865) went on to conduct important research on the orchid family and also recommended that Kew Gardens should become a national botanical institution. This pioneering three-volume work of palaeobotany, first published between 1831 and 1837, catalogues almost 300 species of fossil plants from the Pleistocene to the Carboniferous period. The geologist and palaeontologist William Hutton (1797 1860), with whom Lindley collaborated, was responsible for collecting the fossil specimens from which the 230 plates were drawn. The first serious attempt at organising and interpreting the evidence of Britain's primeval plant life, this resource is notable also for its prefatory discussion of topics such as coal seams and prehistoric climate. Volume 1 opens with a context-setting introduction and list of genera, followed by the descriptions of plates 1-79."

Employed early on in his career by Sir Joseph Banks, the botanist John Lindley (1799 1865) went on to conduct important research on the orchid family and also recommended that Kew Gardens should become a national botanical institution. This pioneering three-volume work of palaeobotany, first published between 1831 and 1837, catalogues almost 300 species of fossil plants from the Pleistocene to the Carboniferous period. The geologist and palaeontologist William Hutton (1797 1860), with whom Lindley collaborated, was responsible for collecting the fossil specimens from which the 230 plates were drawn. The first serious attempt at organising and interpreting the evidence of Britain's primeval plant life, this resource is notable also for its prefatory discussion of topics such as coal seams and prehistoric climate. Volume 2 opens with a preface on coal, followed by descriptions of some of the fossil plants found therein (plates 80-156)."

Employed early on in his career by Sir Joseph Banks, the botanist John Lindley (1799 1865) went on to conduct important research on the orchid family and also recommended that Kew Gardens should become a national botanical institution. This pioneering three-volume work of palaeobotany, first published between 1831 and 1837, catalogues almost 300 species of fossil plants from the Pleistocene to the Carboniferous period. The geologist and palaeontologist William Hutton (1797 1860), with whom Lindley collaborated, was responsible for collecting the fossil specimens from which the 230 plates were drawn. The first serious attempt at organising and interpreting the evidence of Britain's primeval plant life, this resource is notable also for its prefatory discussion of topics such as coal seams and prehistoric climate. Volume 3 includes a note on the action of water on plants. This is followed by the descriptions of plates 157 230."

In a one-stop resource, this book provides a state-of-the-art overview of all aspects of pure and applied forams studies. Building from introductory chapters on the history of foraminiferal research, and research methods, the book then takes the reader through biology, ecology, palaeoecology, biostratigraphy and sequence stratigraphy. This is followed by key chapters detailing practical applications of forams in petroleum geology, mineral geology, engineering geology, environmental science and archaeology. All applications are fully supported by numerous case studies selected from around the world, providing a wealth of real-world data. The book also combines lavish illustrations, including over seventy stunning original picture-diagrams of foraminifera, with comprehensive references for further reading, and online data tables providing additional information on hundreds of foram families and species. Accessible and practical, this is a vital resource for graduate students, academic micropalaeontologists and professionals across all disciplines and industry settings which make use of foram studies.

The invasion of land by ocean-dwelling plants and animals was one of the most revolutionary events in the evolution of life on Earth, yet the animal invasion almost failed-twice-because of the twin mass extinctions of the Late Devonian Epoch. Some 359 to 375 million years ago, these catastrophic events dealt our ancestors a blow that almost drove them back into the sea. If those extinctions had been just a bit more severe, spiders and insects-instead of vertebrates-might have become the ecologically dominant forms of animal life on land. This book examines the profound evolutionary consequences of the Late Devonian extinctions and the various theories proposed to explain their occurrence. Only one group of four-limbed vertebrates exists on Earth, while other tetrapod-like fishes are extinct. This gap is why the idea of "fish with feet" seems so peculiar to us, yet such animals were once a vital part of our world, and if the Devonian extinctions had not happened, members of these species, like the famous Acanthostega and Ichthyostega, might have continued to live in our rivers and lakes. Synthesizing decades of research and including a wealth of new discoveries, this accessible, comprehensive text explores the causes of the Devonian extinctions, the reasons vertebrates were so severely affected, and the potential evolution of the modern world if the extinctions had never taken place.

Louis Figuier (1819-94) was destined to remain in academia until disagreements with fellow scholars led him to abandon this path and instead pursue 'the idea that scientific knowledge, which until then had been almost exclusively the property of the learned, should be put within the reach of the reading public'. Published in 1863, La Terre avant le deluge became a classic of popular science and introduced palaeontology to a wider readership; that this English translation appeared only two years later is an indication of its impact. Figuier wrote that his aim was 'to trace the progressive steps by which the earth has reached its present state ... and to describe the various convulsions and transformations through which it has successively passed'. The book was also celebrated for its inclusion of more than 200 illustrations by a pupil of Dore, Edouard Riou (1833-1900), who became famous as Jules Verne's illustrator a few years later.

Relying on the latest analytical techniques, this all-embracing new reference offers comprehensive coverage of the development, evolution, and morphology of both fossil and living cephalopods. In 34 in-depth chapters a group of 51 international neontologists and peleontologists offer and opverview of current methods, data, analyses, and interpretations, and posit suggestions for future research. With its unparalleled combination of first-rate contributions on living and fossil cephalopods, this book provides researchers and advanced students in paleontology, invertebrate zoology, evolutionary biology, and allied disciplines with a trove of recent data and authoritative interpretations that will immeasurably benefit their own studies.

This volume brings together a series of papers that address the topic of reconstructing behavior in the primate fossil record. The literature devoted to reconstructing behavior in extinct species is ovelWhelming and very diverse. Sometimes, it seems as though behavioral reconstruction is done as an afterthought in the discussion section of papers, relegated to the status of informed speculation. But recent years have seen an explosion in studies of adaptation, functional anatomy, comparative sociobiology, and development. Powerful new comparative methods are now available on the internet. At the same time, we face a rapidly growing fossil record that offers more and more information on the morphology and paleoenvironments of extinct species. Consequently, inferences of behavior in extinct species have become better grounded in comparative studies of living species and are becoming increas ingly rigorous. We offer here a series of papers that review broad issues related to reconstructing various aspects of behavior from very different types of evi dence. We hope that in so doing, the reader will gain a perspective on the various types of evidence that can be brought to bear on reconstructing behavior, the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches, and, perhaps, new approaches to the topic. We define behavior as broadly as we can including life-history traits, locomotion, diet, and social behavior, giving the authors considerable freedom in choosing what, exactly, they wish to explore."

The culmination of more than a decade of fieldwork and related study, this unique book uses analyses of perimortem taphonomy in Ice Age Siberia to propose a new hypothesis for the peopling of the New World. The authors present evidence based on examinations of more than 9000 pieces of human and carnivore bone from 30 late Pleistocene archaeological and palaeontological sites, including cave and open locations, which span more than 2000 miles from the Ob River in the West to the Sea of Japan in the East. The observed bone damage signatures suggest that the conventional prehistory of Siberia needs revision and, in particular, that cave hyenas had a significant influence on the lives of Ice Age Siberians. The findings are supported by more than 250 photographs, which illustrate the bone damage described and provide a valuable insight into the context and landscape of the fieldwork for those unfamiliar with Siberia.

Coastal exposures of the Santa Cruz Formation in southern Patagonia have been a fertile ground for recovery of Early Miocene vertebrates for more than 100 years. This volume presents a comprehensive compilation of important mammalian groups which continue to thrive today. It includes the most recent fossil finds as well as important new interpretations based on ten years of fieldwork by the authors. A key focus is placed on the paleoclimate and paleoenvironment during the time of deposition in the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum (MMCO) between twenty and fifteen million years ago. The authors present the first reconstruction of what climatic conditions were like and present important new evidence of the geochronological age, habits and community structures of fossil bird and mammal species. Academic researchers and graduate students in paleontology, paleobiology, paleoecology, stratigraphy, climatology and geochronology will find this a valuable source of information about this fascinating geological formation.

This book was first published in 2006. Palaeontology has developed from a descriptive science to an analytical science used to interpret relationships between earth and life history. Applied Palaeontology adopts a holistic, integrated approach to palaeontology, highlighting its key role in the study of the evolving earth, life history and environmental processes. After an introduction to fossils and their classification, each of the principal fossil groups are studied in detail, covering their biology, morphology, classification, palaeobiology and biostratigraphy. The latter sections focus on the applications of fossils in the interpretation of earth and life processes and environments. It concludes with case histories of how our knowledge of fossils is applied, in industry and elsewhere. This is a valuable reference for anyone involved in the applications of palaeontology, including earth, life and environmental scientists, and petroleum, minerals, mining and engineering professionals.

Hans Thewissen, a leading researcher in the field of whale paleontology and anatomy, gives a sweeping first-person account of the discoveries that brought to light the early fossil record of whales. As evidenced in the record, whales evolved from herbivorous forest-dwelling ancestors that resembled tiny deer to carnivorous monsters stalking lakes and rivers and to serpentlike denizens of the coast. Thewissen reports on his discoveries in the wilds of India and Pakistan, weaving a narrative that reveals the day-to-day adventures of fossil collection, enriching it with local flavors from South Asian culture and society. The reader senses the excitement of the digs as well as the rigors faced by scientific researchers, for whom each new insight gives rise to even more questions, and for whom at times the logistics of just staying alive may trump all science. In his search for an understanding of how modern whales live their lives, Thewissen also journeys to Japan and Alaska to study whales and wild dolphins. He finds answers to his questions about fossils by studying the anatomy of otters and porpoises and examining whale embryos under the microscope. In the book's final chapter, Thewissen argues for approaching whale evolution with the most powerful tools we have and for combining all the fields of science in pursuit of knowledge.

The Holy Cross Mountains of Poland yield an abundance of marine Devonian fossils that have been studied and described since the mid-nineteenth century. Reef-formers are a major part of the overall fauna, and the stromatoporoids and the rugose corals have already received full attention. This publication extends full descriptive cover to the third of the important reef-building groups, the tabulate corals.